Tips,Tricks, Stories,& Reports

As we slink along the bank, eyes fixed on the water, the tell-tale flash of a fish feeding on nymphs catches our eye. We immediately drop to a knee and stare a hole into the spot where the fish tipped its hand. A second later and there's movement again, this time the fanning of a tail, innocent enough except now we know exactly where the trout is. Line is pulled from the reel as a few short false casts dial in our distance, and all of a sudden it's the moment of truth. A herd of buffalo could be crossing twenty yards upstream and we would be oblivious to it. This is hunting trout.

There's something special about seeing a specific fish and then going and catching it. That's not to say that blind fishing is without its rewards, because it's the method we use a majority of the time, but sight fishing (aka hunting) to a trout or steelhead ramps it up to a new level.

The idea that we see a fish, and it could see us, and then we fool it to think that our fly is something real that it would normally eat is exhilarating. This isn't your granddaddy's fishing of sitting on the bank of a lake or lazy river and watching the tip of a rod as it sits on a Y-stick!

Few fish match the excitement of a big steelhead

Fishing in this way isn't without its heartaches, however. Many a moment is spent in dejection as a seen fish either stops eating or blatantly refuses our offerings. It's moments like these that can make us question our skill, knowledge, and sanity. But when it works, and a big fish is seen, hunted down, and caught, the euphoric bliss that surrounds us for the day is intoxicating. The feeling can turn beginning anglers into addicts and addicts into obsessive lunatics, always in search of their next quarry and the rush of excitement that comes with catching it.

Brown Trout are awful fun to hunt!

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